Marketnode, a Singapore-based digital market infrastructure operator, has on Thursday announced the successful first close of its Series A investment round led by HSBC alongside contributions from existing shareholder Temasek.

The investment will be used to scale Marketnode’s platforms and realize the shareholders’ ambitions to develop a multi-asset ecosystem, starting in Asia-Pacific, Marketnode said in a statement.

It is noted that since 2020, HSBC and Marketnode have co-developed a digital market infrastructure spanning credit, funds and structured products.

Marketnode and HSBC have jointly participated in Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Project Guardian initiative, Singapore’s fund settlement infrastructure Fundnode, and several digital bond initiatives.

According to the statement, the investment enables Marketnode to collaborate with the financial services industry to scale infrastructure across key asset classes such as digital fixed income and structured products, participating in the upcoming launch of Fundnode, and rolling out other tokenised asset offerings.

“Marketnode is proud to have HSBC as the lead strategic investor in our Series A round,

“HSBC’s support represents the natural extension of our collaboration across multiple asset classes since Marketnode’s inception,” said Rehan Ahmed, President, Marketnode.

“The marriage of Marketnode’s FMI operational expertise and HSBC’s market leading global platform represents a unique opportunity to shape the next generation of trusted and neutral market infrastructure,

“We continue to welcome other industry partners to join us in rethinking financial markets out of Asia-Pacific,” he added.

As part of HSBC’s investment, John O’Neill, Global Head of Digital Asset Strategy at HSBC will join Marketnode’s Board of Directors.

“Our investment in Marketnode showcases our joint commitment to building a robust multi-asset digital infrastructure across our markets, helping our customers enter the world of digital assets safely and securely,

“We are excited to embark on the next chapter of our collaboration to drive innovation in the industry,” said Ian Glasner, Group Head of Innovation, Ventures, and Digital Partnerships at HSBC.

Pradyumna Agrawal, Managing Director, Investment (Blockchain), Temasek, said the Series A investment will help Marketnode further develop market-neutral financial infrastructure.

“This validates Marketnode’s pioneering effort in a promising and rapidly growing area and will help accelerate industry adoption as we look to collectively shape a digital future for the capital markets industry,” he added.

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